Introduction

Summary

What does the title “Consumer Democracy” mean? At its simplest it suggests that politics are sold like commercial products, and that citizens judge, and are invited to judge, politics as commercial products. As such, “consumer democracy” is an unlikely term of praise. It cuts directly to our anxieties about the state of politics; about what politics should rightly be, and that politics should be judged, lived, and contemplated by standards of the public good. By contrast, purchase decisions are not held to such demands; they are somehow divested of the idea of the public, typically seen as private and individual matters or, worse, antipublic and, when entwined in the political arena, corrosive to the fundamental principles of the public good.

The point of the title is precisely acceptance of the idea that politics are sold in similar ways to products; similar but not exactly the same because this simple definition of consumer democracy masks layers of complexity about political activity and voter choice, consumer purchases, and indeed commercial marketing itself, which is a living and contested theoretical field with no simple single formula for selling success. However, the title does not imply that “consumer democracy” is necessarily a descent from high principles of proper politics. Rather, this book considers how marketing might enhance democratic politics, for parties and for citizens.